Internal medicine

In the field of internal medicine, patients benefit from state-of-the-art, non-aggressive methods of treatment. Highly flexible, miniaturised endoscopes can now be gently manoeuvred around the stomach and intestines without causing pain, enabling doctors to see inside the human body. Interventional procedures that do not involve surgery or a direct incision into the body also minimise the risks for patients with diabetes, heart conditions or obesity.

Diabetes and its secondary diseases can be prevented – or at least recognised early to enable optimum treatment – through regular check-ups, remote monitoring by tele-medics and the use of behavioural therapies. At-risk patients stand to benefit most from this.

Around 20 per cent of all adult Germans have acid reflux every day; another 40 per cent suffer from it occasionally. Heartburn is a widespread condition triggered mainly by food that is too rich and greasy and by excessive consumption of alcohol and nicotine. Usually classified as harmless, heartburn can have severe consequences including, in the worst case, cancer. If malignant tumours are found early, they can be treated and cured using endoscopic methods.

Adiposity, or clinical obesity, is a lifestyle disease affecting increasing numbers of people worldwide. Obese patients often find it difficult to live a normal life, have a severely limited quality of life and find themselves under increasing mental strain.

High blood pressure isnʼt painful as such, but it does increase the risk of strokes and serious cardiovascular diseases. In Germany, it is a problem for around half of all people aged over 60, and occurs in younger people as well. We asked Professor Dietrich Andresen, Senior Cardiology Consultant at the Vivantes Hospital am Urban in Berlin, to tell us more about this subject.

The complexity of hormone-related disorders and metabolic diseases such as diabetes mellitus calls for a treatment concept that is organised on a cross-departmental basis. This interdisciplinary collaboration of medical experts working in several different disciplines is a feature of the Heart and Diabetes Centre North Rhine-Westphalia in Bad Oeynhausen. A network of specialists spare no effort in ensuring the best-possible prognosis and medical outcome for patients.

There have been remarkable technological advances in gastrointestinal endoscopy over recent years. Highly flexible, miniaturised endoscopes can now be gently manoeuvred around the stomach and intestines without causing pain, giving doctors a better idea of what is going on inside the body. This makes both diagnosis and treatment easier, safer and more efficient to carry out.